<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Dirt, Worms, &amp; Kaleidoscopic Skies by Lots_of_Little_Pink_Clouds</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28564350">Dirt, Worms, &amp; Kaleidoscopic Skies</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lots_of_Little_Pink_Clouds/pseuds/Lots_of_Little_Pink_Clouds'>Lots_of_Little_Pink_Clouds</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Birds of a Feather [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Vampire: The Masquerade, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood Drinking, Character Turned Into Vampire, Gen, I'm so sorry, Op is a shovelhead, Sabbat (Vampire: The Masquerade), Sabbat recruiting methods, Vampire Turning, if you're squeamish about worms and eating worms</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 03:28:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>752</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28564350</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lots_of_Little_Pink_Clouds/pseuds/Lots_of_Little_Pink_Clouds</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><span class="u"><strong>October 21st 2004</strong></span><br/>Dark and cold. The dirt boxes him in. He scrambles, moving aching limbs through sluggish earth. His eyes open, flickering back and forth in the darkness, his mouth tears open into a panicked scream. Mud and dirt, gravel and dust fills his mouth and he chokes. His lips are cracked, his throat is sore, and a deep gnawing hunger grows within him, urging him forwards and upwards.</p><p>  <em>She's thirsty. So, so thirsty.</em></p><p>**The experience that every shovelhead goes through post-Embrace.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Birds of a Feather [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2092887</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Dirt, Worms, &amp; Kaleidoscopic Skies</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><span class="u"> <strong>October 21st 2004</strong></span> <span class="u"></span></p><p>Dark and cold. The dirt boxes him in. He scrambles, moving aching limbs through sluggish earth. His eyes open, flickering back and forth in the darkness, his mouth tears open into a panicked scream. Mud and dirt, gravel and dust fills his mouth and he chokes. His lips are cracked, his throat is sore, and a deep gnawing hunger grows within him, urging him forwards and upwards.</p><p>
  <em>She's thirsty. So, so thirsty.</em>
</p><p>The thirst lingers, a haunting and present pain that grows the longer he struggles. The earth around him moves, slow and dark and eternal, uncaring for his plight. He shuts his eyes. The darkness persists, pressing in from all sides. The cold earth embraces him, like a mother suffocating her child.</p><p>
  <em>Sweet mother, sweet mother, what's happening to me?</em>
</p><p>He pushes with his legs and the dirt gives way. He claws his way towards the surface, or where he believes the surface to be. Opening his mouth, he can taste the cold dirt entrapping him in its grasp. His tongue brushes against a worm. It wiggles and twists and burrows along his teeth. He snaps his jaw shut, a Venus flytrap ensnaring its prey and <em>chews</em>.</p><p>The worm bursts and falls still and he struggles to swallow. The beast purrs as the warm lifeblood of the worm trickles into his stomach.</p><p>
  <em>She needs MORE. It's not enough.</em>
</p><p>He laps at the dirt like a dog, groaning as he searches.</p><p>He finds it soon enough - a warm, steady stream of liquid flowing through the thin cracks of the earth around him. It smells of heaven, or something close to it. Like the sweetest ambrosia, or the warmth of the sun in summer, or the richest hot chocolate in winter. It tastes like caramel fudge and scotch bonnet candy, like snow on the tip of your tongue, like the sharp scent of pine and mint.</p><p>It's better than the worm, better than the earth. He follows that scent, that <em>hunger</em>, a primal urge stirring within him.</p><p>
  <em>More more morE MORE MORE MORE-</em>
</p><p>He's cold. So, so cold. Like walking through a blizzard. Like being drenched from head to toe. Like those moments when tremors run through you, when you're shaking and crying and can't think straight, when the icy grip of <em>something</em> claims your heart and <em>clenches</em>.</p><p>
  <em>MORE MORE SHE NEEDS MORE MORE MOREMOREMORE-</em>
</p><p>He hates it. He needs more. More of the warm liquid. Already he can feel the strength it gave him fading away. The panic returns and he thrashes and sobs, cutting his hands and arms and legs against the hard, immovable earth.</p><p>The dirt eventually gives way. One of his hands breaks free to the surface. He laughs, choking on dirt and worms. He wriggles his way upwards, shoving aside the impervious earth with abandon. Muffled shouts reach his ears, but he doesn't care. Can't care.</p><p>
  <em>She's close. She's SO close. Just a little further. She just needs to-</em>
</p><p>-get some leverage. He gets both arms and half his head out of the ground. The breeze of an autumn night greets him. His sweaty dark hair clings to his forehead as he heaves the rest of himself onto damp grass. He turns over onto his back, exhausted, and opens his eyes.</p><p>The night sky swirls in a kaleidoscope of dark blues, blacks, and purples, the stars twinkling white dots that wink at him. He waves back, a dopey smile stretching across his face. Then the hunger rises again, a frantic haze of nothingness clawing at the back of his eyes.</p><p>He stumbles to his feet, vomiting out the dirt he swallowed in his desperate need to escape his shallow grave.</p><p>
  <em>FOOD FOOD SHE/HE NEEDS FOOD</em>
</p><p>Just as he takes a shaky step forwards, pain erupts from his chest. His arms and legs tense, and he crumples to the ground. He stares up at the sky as three blurry individuals move into his vision.</p><p>"-hat should we do with him?"</p><p>"-ake him to Nocturne Theatre. Let the Prince deal with him."</p><p>"But-"</p><p>"-grabbed the Sabbat guy, just like LaCroix told us to... -know the rules about embraces without the Prince's permission..."</p><p>One of them slings him over their shoulder. The pain in his chest intensifies, something <em>digging deeper into his heart</em>, and he wants to scream but his mouth won't open. Blinding white overtakes his vision and he settles into a distant void of shifting black-white-grey, the murmurs of his captors lulling him into unconsciousness.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>And so this poor bastard, after being embraced and experiencing the Sabbat recruiting method, is staked by some Camarilla agents who were after his sire. He's then taken to LaCroix, thus becoming the protagonist in the VTM: Bloodlines game.</p><p>Tbh I haven't actually played Bloodlines. But I have played the Choice of Games text story VTM: Night Road, which is really, really good and I highly recommend it. Just a heads up, you gotta pay to read the whole thing. But the first four chapters are free so you can read those and see if you're down to spend money.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>